


50 Lies

by obsessive_iris



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance, Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Highschool AU, M/M, Pining, References to Drugs, Swearing, Unrequited Love, a lot of people from different bands are mentioned but not actual characters, awsten knight has heelies, bob bryar/mikey way (mentioned) - Freeform, crack ships, i based the character descriptions off of early pictures i found of them, i wanted to make this all rarepairs but i had to add a little frerard bc i ship it too much, rarepairs, this is gonna be a mess but it's gonna be fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-25
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2019-10-16 01:49:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17540381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obsessive_iris/pseuds/obsessive_iris
Summary: The seniors have an assignment to write down the lies they tell. Awsten, a freshman, needs to get into prom to prank his friend. Gerard is probably straight. What will happen?I made a Pinterest board for this story if you wanna check it out: https://www.pinterest.com/obsessive_iris/weird-high-school-band-au/Thank you @s0dafucker for helping with the Pinterest board, all your help with the ideas for this story, and for encouraging me / helping me while I write it!





	1. Introduction

“Okay class, our next unit is going to be on unreliable narrators. We will be reading a few short stories for this unit, but today I’m going to introduce a project that we will be doing. All of you will be making a list of lies. That’s right, for the duration of this unit, you will be writing down every lie you tell. Isn’t that interesting!”

Gerard looked over at Frank, rolling his eyes. If the teacher didn’t actually read the list, Gerard would have just copied & pasted what he did last year into a new Google Doc. But he knew Mrs. Carlyle would read his list, even if she didn’t read anyone else’s. Last year, she didn’t like Gerard at all, and even though this year he was getting much better grades, he still had been held back, which probably dismantled any chance he had of her taking it easy on him.

“And these lies don’t just have to be the everyday white lies we all tell, they can be anything! I will be the only one seeing your lists, so be as open as you want to be! And remember, we are learning about unreliable narrators, so the lies you write down can even be lies that you tell yourself. You need to write down 50 lies by the end of this unit. Have fun!”

The bell rang and everyone walked out into the hall towards their next class, which for Frank and Gerard, was lunch.

“I know it’s usually a good thing when a teacher loves her work, but Carlyle’s eternal enthusiasm is making me wanna stab myself.” Frank shook his head.

“She’s worse the second time around.” Gerard walked into the cafeteria and dropped his bag on a chair next to his usual table in the corner.

Frank sat down, getting out his lunch box. He always brought his own food, which was smart, because the cafeteria food usually sucked ass. 

When Gerard got back to their table after getting lunch, the others had already gotten there. He never understood how either of them could get to the cafeteria after he did and still manage to make it through the chaos of the lunch line- you could hardly call it a line- and back to the table before him.

“Hey Mikey. Working on something, Tyler?” Gerard put his tray down on the table.

Tyler mumbled something about a poem and kept writing in his leather-bound notebook. 

Gerard would classify their table as the weird, introverted, poetry emos. It was himself, who wrote songs about death for a band he was in with Frank, Mikey, and his other friend Ray (but Gerard would consider himself more goth than emo), Frank, a very short and angry emo who was into all things satan- or cryptid- related, his brother Mikey, who constantly looked like he wanted to kill someone (the all-black outfits and gigantic boots certainly helped), and Tyler, a junior who barely talked to anyone and was constantly writing and listening to music.

“Hey!” A kid with fake tattoos all over his arms and the top part of his chest that his shirt didn’t cover suddenly rolled over to their table. He had fluffy scene-style hair, rubber wristbands on both of his arms, and heterochromia.

“Are you wearing heelies?” Frank wondered allowed.

“Yes I am!” The kid said proudly.

Frank nodded his head thoughtfully.

“Hey, tiny freshman, what do you want?” Gerard smirked. “We specifically picked this table to sit at every day specifically so no one would bother us, you know.”

“Don’t call freshmen tiny.” Mikey piped up from his seat in between Frank and Tyler. “It offends Frank.”

“It does not offend me.” Frank crossed his arms. “I just think it’s a little unfair that you’re implying that all freshmen are short, and everyone who is short is basically the same as a freshman.”

Gerard rolled his eyes at Frank and then looked back at the kid, who laughed a little before speaking.

“Y’all are seniors, right?”

“I’m a junior.” Tyler said quietly, stopping his writing to see what this freshman wanted.

“That’s cool too.” The kid shrugged. “Can I go to prom with one of you?”

“Why?” Mikey warily asked.

“Well, do y’all like pranks? My name’s Awsten, and-” Awsten started before Gerard interrupted him.

“We know who you are, you get called to the guidance office all the time. Also, this is starting to sound like a sales pitch.” Gerard pointed out.

Awsten rolled his eyes. “Because it is a sales pitch! One of the reasons I get called to the guidance office so much is for pulling pranks, and I need to get into prom to pull a prank on my friend Jawn. He’s going with a junior.”

“Who?” Tyler asked.

“Hayley Williams.” Awsten replied. The guys all nodded their heads.

“She could do better.” Frank shrugged.

“Okay, why one of us? And what do we get in return?” Gerard finally sat down.

“No offence, but I didn’t think any of you would already have a date. And you’re one of the only tables in this lunch period that’s almost all seniors. As for what you get in return, you can be my friend!”

“No thanks.” Mikey tried to wave the kid away.

“Okay, um, how about I teach you guitar? I’ve been playing for years, I think I’m actually pretty good. I’ve been teaching some middle schoolers for money.”

“I already play guitar, nice try.” Frank scoffed, as if doubting Awsten’s ability to teach him anything.

Tyler shrugged. “I’m ok with that deal.”

“Yeah.” Gerard agreed. “We’ll all consider it and let you know tomorrow.”

“Really? Nice! You won’t regret this!” Awsten shouted as he heelied back to his table.

Gerard had never attempted to play a guitar, be he thought it might be useful for a solo career if his band ever broke up. And Awsten was right, Gerard didn’t have a date yet, and he would be surprised if anyone actually asked him. 

Frank rolled his eyes at Awsten as the freshman went back to his table. “Are you guys seriously considering this?”

Gerard and Tyler shared a look.

“Yeah, why not?” Tyler asked.

“Tyler, don’t you have a crush on Brendon though?” Mikey pushed his glasses up and looked at his friend.

“Yeah, but he’s never gonna ask me to prom, and I don’t think I could ask him. He’s a theater geek and I’m an introvert, I don’t think a relationship with us would work well anyway.” answered Tyler.

“What about you, Gee? Isn’t there anyone you want to ask you to prom?” Frank ran a hand through his messy black hair and looked expectantly at Gerard.

“Not really. I haven’t talked to any girls lately that I would consider taking to prom.”


	2. the actual first chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank starts his list of lies

My Chemical Romance was practicing in Ray’s parents’ garage, their usual after-school routine. When Ray graduated high school last year, his mom made him move out, but she still let the band practice in the garage while she was out running errands. Otherwise they wouldn’t have anywhere to play. Ray lived in a van, Mikey and Gerard’s parents didn’t know they were in a band, and Frank’s parents always put their car in their garage, so there wasn’t much room for anything else in there.

When they had gotten to the garage, the seniors had immediately told Ray everything about Awsten’s prank.

“Seems fun!” Ray said. “You have to send me videos.”

“If one of us brings him, which we’re not going to, because this is stupid.” Frank pointed out. He sat on the ground, hunched over his guitar in annoyance. “I just want to have a fun time with my friends at my last school dance ever and this punk-ass freshman wants to ruin it.” He said quietly, just trying to make an excuse that Gerard would believe.

“Jesus, Frankie, it’s just for a prank. He’ll probably leave us alone at prom, he only wants one of us to take him so he can actually get in.” Gerard crouched down in front of Frank, looking him in the eye.

Gerard had a good point, but Frank didn’t want to hear it. And even though Ray seemed to agree with Gerard and Tyler, Frank knew Mikey was on his side.

“And besides” Gerard shrugged. “You don’t have to bring him, one of us will; you’d still be free to go with whoever you want.”

At this, Frank put his guitar on its stand and went to lean against the wall next to Mikey. Mikey always agreed with Frank, and standing next to him was comforting. He knew Gerard wouldn’t understand why he was upset, and he made a mental note to talk to Ray after practice about it and have him try to talk Gerard out of even considering going to prom with Awsten. Gerard always took Ray’s advice seriously, so a warning coming from him would steer Gerard away from it more than Frank could.

Gerard rolled his eyes and got out his phone to text someone, and then looked around at everyone in the garage when he was done.

“Okay, I just texted Tyler. I’m going to take Awsten to prom.” He said firmly, crossing his arms and staring directly at Frank and Mikey.

“What the fuck?!” Frank whispered forcefully, resisting the urge to scream. “I can’t believe you.” He said a little louder before walking out of the garage and into Ray’s mom’s house. “Ray, I’m grabbing a soda from the fridge!”

Frank picked a Dr. Pepper and pulled himself up so he was sitting on the kitchen counter. Why in the fuck would Gerard go to prom with a freshman just to help him with a prank? And he even said that Frank wouldn’t have to deal with Awsten, so he could go with whoever he wanted.

I wanted to ask you, dumbass he thought in his head, wishing he could say it to Gerard’s face, but knowing if he tried he’d probably get so nervous he’d throw up. 

Frank tried to calm himself, downing as much of the Dr. Pepper as he could in one sip. He pulled out his phone. Might as well start a Google doc for that English assignment since he just lied to Gerard. 

“Frank Iero - Lies I’ve Told

1) The reason I don’t want Gerard to go to prom with Awsten is that I want to have a good time with my friends and not have it ruined by a freshman”

Frank really couldn’t care less about Awsten, he just wanted Gerard to himself. He had a whole fantasy in his head in which he would finally ask Gerard out with the most epic promposal ever. Gerard would say yes, finally realize that he had a crush on Frank, and when they were dancing together to a slow song, they would kiss, and it would be the first kiss they’ve ever shared that wasn’t a joke.

“Hey, are you okay?” Ray said gently, letting himself into the house and closing the door to the garage behind him.

“Am I ever?” Frank asked, only half joking. He drank a little more of his soda.

“You know you can always talk to me, right?” Ray leaned against the side of the fridge and looked Frank in his hazel eyes. “What’s really going on?”

“Fuck.” he sighed, wrapping his arms around himself. “Okay, If you tell anyone about this, I’ll snap your fucking neck.”

“Like you could reach my neck!” Ray laughed.

“Don’t test me.” Frank threatened. “I’m about to tell you one of my biggest secrets; I will kill to keep it that way.”

“Fine.” Ray jokingly put his hands up in surrender. “I swear I won’t tell anyone.”

Frank took a deep breath, swinging his legs. “I have a crush on Gerard.”

“Wow. You two have been jokingly flirting for so long, I guess it was just a matter of time.”

“Shut. Up.” Frank glared.

Ray’s face fell. “That’s why you didn’t want Gerard to go with Awsten.”

“You were on his side.”

“Shit, I’m sorry, man.” Ray moved over do he was directly in front of Frank. “He’s already settled on it now, I think it’s too late to change his mind. You know how persistent he gets once his mind’s made up.”

“Yeah.” 

“Gerard and Mikey are worried about you. Do you want me to tell them anything?”

“I’m fine; I’ve got it.” Frank took a deep breath and forced himself to hop down off of the counter and go talk to his friends. 

Frank walked back out into the garage, Ray trailing behind him like a mother letting her child talk to another kid on his own for the first time. 

Gerard and Mikey looked up from where they were standing next to the wall and abruptly ended whatever conversation they had been having, probably about Frank.

“Are you o-”

Gerard was interrupted by Frank snapping “Mikey, come with me, I need to talk to you. alone.” He grabbed Mikey’s hand and half-dragged him out of the open garage door and around the corner. He pulled the taller boy so they were in Ray’s mom’s front yard near where her property ended and the next house’s yard began.

Ray held Gerard back as he tried to follow. “Hey, I’ll wait with you here, but he meant it when he said alone.”

Gerard looked at Ray and then backed off. “What the hell is his issue with me?”

“If he doesn’t want you to know, he doesn’t want you to know.”

“Is there something else going on?” Gerard sat down on the ground, and Ray did the same. “I’m worried about him; he wouldn’t freak out like that unless he was really pissed about something, and prom never really seemed like something he was invested in. Did he tell you anything?”

“It’s nothing like that” Ray comforted, patting Gerard’s knee. “He told me what he’s upset about; it’s just something he needs to deal with; it’s not serious.”

“But are you sure? He could’ve just… lied to you.”

“I’m sure, Gee. Don’t worry. He’ll tell you if he wants you to know.”

Gerard tried to believe Ray’s words and wondered what Frank was talking to Mikey about. He pulled out his phone. Might as well use this time to tell Awsten he’ll take him to prom.

Meanwhile, outside the garage, Frank whispered to Mikey. “I need you to pretend to date me.”

“What?” Mikey actually smiled for once in his life.

“I’m going to tell you something, and if you tell Gerard, I will murder you. Ray already knows.”

“Ok, shoot.” Mikey leaned against the side of the garage.

Frank took a deep breath, and then let out, “I have a crush on Gerard, and he’s being a big oblivious idiot right now with this whole ‘taking Awsten to prom’ thing, and I sorta want to strangle him, but instead I’m asking you to pretend to date me so I can hopefully make your brother jealous.”

“Wow. When did you come up with this?”

“About 10 seconds ago.” 

“Oh.” There were a few seconds of silence, and Frank swore he could hear a squirrel run up the small tree in the front of the house.

“Fuck it, I’m in.” Mikey finally agreed. 

“Nice! I’ll prompose to you at our lunch table in like two days, okay? Let’s do this.”

~~~~~~~~

Awsten pushed himself back and forth on a swing, dragging his feet through the tan wood chips. His friends Jawn, Otto, and Geoff were on the other swings in that swingset in the park. A breeze made the trees around them rustle, and Awsten shivered. His phone buzzed in his pocket. Awsten pulled it out and checked his notifications.

“Hm, Gerard just followed my Instagram.” 

“Gerard Way? Wasn’t he supposed to graduate last year? I heard he failed all his classes.” Otto piped up.

“I’ve heard he smokes crack with his brother.” Jawn added.

“Jeez, shut the fuck up, he’s a cool guy.” Awsten defended, following him back and scrolling through his profile. There were a lot of pictures and videos of My Chemical Romance practicing and Gerard drawing and writing.

A notification popped up that Gerard sent Awsten a direct message.

“Would you like to go to prom with me?”

Awsten gasped and pumped his fist in the air. “Yes! I’m going to prom, motherfuckers!”

“Excuse me, you’re what?” Jawn looked at Awsten in disbelief.

“See you there, bitch!” Awsten smiled, pushing himself towards Jawn’s swing and shoving his phone with the message from Gerard in his friend’s face.


	3. In Which The Plan Is Put Into Motion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly what the chapter title says

For some ungodly reason, Gerard had decided to hang out with Awsten more, and had even invited him and his friend, Travis, over to his lunch table.

“Gerard?”

“Yes, Frankie?”

“What the fuck are they doing here?”

“They don’t know anyone else in this lunch period. I’m being nice.”

“Remember what happened last time you invited someone to our lunch table because he was sitting alone?”

Mikey shot Frank a glare. Right. He wasn’t supposed to mention Bob ever again. Bob Bryar was probably the worst person to ever come into Gerard and Mikey’s lives, and Frank, being best friends with both brothers, felt the effects.

“Sorry.” 

Gerard slammed his tray down on the table. “They’re not him. They stay.”

Frank was starting to feel like Gerard was completely taking over their friend group, without letting anyone else have a say in what should be group decisions. Or maybe that was just Frank’s controlling nature. 

“Are you sure? If the rest of the table’s not ok with it, we can sit at our usual table.” Travis piped up.

“It’s fine.” Frank sat down in his seat begrudgingly.

Awsten and Travis looked confused, but everyone sat down at the table.

Frank reached into his backpack and pulled out a small poster he threw together last night. 

“Mikey?” He unrolled the poster and presented it to everyone at the table. It was black, with little foam letters stuck to it to spell out “will you go to prom with me?”. It was a simple promposal, but Frank wasn’t very good at last-minute things like this.

Mikey smiled. “Hell yeah.”

Gerard looked between the two, a little confused, but Awsten and Travis started clapping, and soon the whole cafeteria was clapping, even though a lot of the people probably didn’t even see what they were clapping for. (Authentic American High School Experience™)

“I… I didn’t know you…?” Gerard started.

“Yeah.” Frank’s plan must’ve been working already. Gerard seemed flustered. “I like your brother.”

“Frank Iero’s lies:

2) ‘I like your brother’”

“You know you’re my best friend, but if you hurt him in any, way, shape, or form, I will viciously murder your whole family” Gerard protectively put his arm around Mikey for a few seconds.

“Gee, stop. We’ve known Frank forever. He’s not gonna hurt me.” Mikey rolled his eyes at his brother. And stuck his tongue out at him when Gerard looked away.

While Gerard started talking to Awsten about something else, Mikey mouthed to Frank, “I think we underestimated how protective he is.”

“Yeah.” Frank mouthed back. “The plan will still work though, right? It just might take longer?”

Mikey shrugged.

“What are you doing?” Tyler spoke for the first time that lunch period.

“Holy shit- I forgot you existed. I am so sorry.” Frank apologized, a thing that was starting to happen a lot today.

“It happens a lot, don’t worry about it.” Tyler half-joked.

“That is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“We’ll fill you in on what’s happening later.” Mikey whispered to Tyler.

 

~~~later~~~

 

Mikey and Frank were waiting right outside the school for Tyler.

Gerard was always late to get out of the school. He walked too slow and his last class was right in the middle of the upstairs hallway, which meant he was the last to get to the staircase, no matter which one he went to. Both were always insanely crowded. Since Gerard always drove him and Mikey to and from school, Mikey almost always had a few minutes to stand around outside the school before he could go home.

Mikey and Frank put their backpacks on the ground next to them and leaned against the outside of the school. There was a breeze, which would have been nice if it hadn’t wafted over the smell of the sewage plant that was about a block away.

“Mikey! Frank! Hey!” Tyler walked out of the building and immediately over to them. 

“Hey. So. You ready to be let in on our evil plan? You can’t tell anyone.” Mikey explained.

“Okay, yeah.” He agreed.

Frank whispered, “Okay, so Mikey and I are going to pretend to fake-date to make Gerard jealous, because I have a crush on him and he is the most oblivious person ever”

“What are you, 12? That doesn’t work.” Tyler shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Hey, fuck you, how would you know?” Frank stepped back.

Tyler rolled his eyes. He was probably the only competent person in the friend group. Well, the only one who hadn’t graduated already. Ray also acted like he had more than one braincell. 

“I’ll try to help you guys with your ‘evil plan’ if you need it, but it’s still stupid.”

“Alright.” Frank looked back towards the school doors. “Gee’s coming.”

“See ya.” Tyler waved as he walked away. He unchained his bike from the bike rack and rode towards his house.

“Hey, Frank. Hey, nerd. Ready to go?” Gerard approached. 

“Yeah.” Mikey picked up his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. “Bye.” He made sure Gerard noticed that his hand brushed against Frank’s as he turned. The brothers walked through the parking lot to Gerard’s truck.

“How was your day?” Mikey asked, not really wanting to know, but more wanting to see if Gerard had any stories of funny things classmates had done since they saw each other at lunch.

“It was fine.” Gerard made a mental note to start his list.

“Gerard Way’s lies:

1) ‘it was fine’”


End file.
